The present invention relates to an article for protecting a substrate from environmental effects such as corrosion, electrical currents, etc.
Various ways have been proposed in the prior art for protecting a substrate from adverse environmental effects. For example, in the case of nuts and bolts, in very severe environments such as those encountered on ocean-traversing vessels, multiple layers of paint are often disposed on exposed portions of the nuts and bolts for protecting them from corrosion. As an alternative to paint, various types of greases have also been utilized in many circumstances for protecting substrates from adverse environmental contaminants, such as water, and for electrical insulation protection, and also for insulating metal substrates. These methods are disadvantageous in that insufficient corrosion protection is afforded, reentry is difficult, the protection lasts for a relatively short period of time, they are labor intensive, and relatively expensive.
U.S. Ser. Nos. 434,001 filed Oct. 1, 1982; 504,00 filed June 13, 1983; 507,433 filed June 23, 1983, abandoned and 646,555 filed Oct. 31, 1984, abandoned all assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses various containers which are substantially filled with gel material, the containers subsequently being disposed in contact with a substrate subsequent to curing the gel. Though these gel filled containers are quite effective in protecting substrates, they are disadvantageous in that they are relatively inefficient since a relatively large amount of gel is required per substrate to be protected.